Draft League
Format changes This section is for individuals who have participated in the PVL Draft League and highlights changes between this season and the previous one. New participants should read the full rules below. This season is featuring a heavily reworked format. There will be a single main conference with 12 participants and a second underdog conference featuring 8 participants. Participants will not be able to select which conference they participate in. Factors involved in participant placement include: availability, having a reliable sponsor/assistant coach, and battling ability. The main conference will feature the strongest and most reliable battlers and take place over the traditional 11+3 weeks, 11 for the main season and 3 for the playoffs. The underdog conference will take place over 7 weeks and will not include playoffs. Should a coach in the main conference leave or otherwise be removed their team will be taken up by the first place (at the time) player in the underdog conference. This new coach will take up the team of the previous coach and continue their battles. The replacement coach will be able to make any transactions they want effective immediately. The now empty team in the underdog conference may or may not be replaced. Coaches will have the option to take on Sponsors/Assistant Coaches. This will increase their reliability, give them people to strategize with and a back-up coach should they be unable to schedule a match. See SPONSORS/ASSISTANT COACHES for further details. Banlist Arena Trap is now banned. Draft A player’s Z captain is not required to hold a Z crystal (It may hold other items or a Z crystal; only the Z captain is allowed to hold a Z crystal). Several Pokemon have changed tiers (be sure to check the tiers carefully as many Pokémon have changed tiers). Pokemon’s mega forms are now drafted separately from their normal forms. A pokemon with only its normal form drafted is not allowed to hold its mega stone. Trades Any proposed trades will be effective the following week. If a trade is proposed week "X", coaches have 24 hours to vote to veto the trade; majority rules. If the trade does not have enough veto votes cast within 24 hours, the trade will be approved and be effective starting week "X"+1. Battles/Recording Players will now be required to enter the Pokemon they brought (only the names) to each match in addition to other parts of the existing match summary. Battle videos will be posted online on the PVL youtube channel (with or without commentary). Playoffs The winner of the main conference will receive a special title. The bottom 2 players from the main conference will not advance past the underdog conference in the next season, unless there are insufficient numbers to fill the main conference. The top two remaining players in the underdog conference will be automatically included in the main conference next season. Sponsors/Assistant Coaches Coaches will have the option to take on Sponsors/Assistant Coaches. This will be done “at-will” meaning if you are asked to sponsor/coach but do not wish to do so, you do not have to. This will increase coach reliability, give them people to strategize with and a back-up coach should they be unable to schedule a match. One sponsor/AC per coach and one coach per sponsor/AC Dismissal/removal of sponsors/ACs will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis in the event a partnership is not working Sponsors are expected to help with breeding of the primary coaches team, and/or to help the primary coach strategize and prepare prior to a match. Assistant Coaches (not sponsors) will be expected to act as substitutes for the primary coach should it not be possible for them to schedule a match. Fans Any person on the PVL server may request to be assigned a role designating themselves as a fan of a team they wish to support. PVL Draft League Rules There will be a single main conference with 12 participants and a second underdog conference featuring 8 participants. Participants will not be able to select which conference they participate in. Factors involved in participant placement include: availability, having a reliable sponsor/assistant coach, and battling ability. The main conference will feature the strongest and most reliable battlers and take place over the traditional 11+3 weeks, 11 for the main season and 3 for the playoffs. The underdog conference will take place over 7 weeks and will not include playoffs. Should a coach in the main conference leave or otherwise be removed their team will be taken up but the first place (at the time) player in the underdog conference. This new coach will take up the team of the previous coach and continue their battles. The replacement Coach will be able to make any transactions they want effective immediately. The now empty team in the underdog conference may or may not be replaced by either the past coach or another potential player however this players record will only . Coaches will have the option to take on Sponsors/Assistant Coaches. This will increase their reliability, give them people to strategize with and a back-up coach should they be unable to schedule a match. See SPONSORS/ASSISTANT COACHES for further details. Banlist The PVL Draft League will follow the PVL Banlist plus additions: Uber tier Megas are banned: Mega Mawile, Speed Boost Blaziken, Protean/Battle Bond Greninja, and the abilities Shadow Tag and Arena Trap. Baton Pass can only be used to pass a single stat at a time.Intentionally passing multiple stats at once will result in an auto-loss. Draft Pokemon can only be selected to one team meaning that once they are selected they are removed from the board and no one else can pick that specific pokemon. Draft order will be decided by a number randomizer so pick order is completely unbiased. The draft will be serpentine setup. (Example draft order. A->B->C->C->B->A) As teams drop out (either from using all their points or finishing drafting), they will be removed from the draft order but the order shall continue as if they were just being skipped over. Each team will have… 1 Pokemon from Tier 1 1 Pokemon from Tier 2 2 Pokemon from Tier 3 1 Pokemon from Tier 4 1 Pokemon from Tier 5 1 Mega-Evolution 4 Free Spots The 4 Free Spots are drafted using 400 Points (or more depending on Mega) Coaches are not required to use all 400 points or even use all 4 free spots. You may not draft more than 1 Tier 1 Pokemon in a Free Spot Drafting a lower tier mega gives you more points for drafting. Different forms of pokemon count as different species in the league, Megas included. EXAMPLE; Rotom-Wash and Rotom-Heat can be drafted to seperate teams. Whatever form the coach drafts is the form they must use that form for every battle. If a pokemon is drafted as a mega-form, it is only allowed to hold its mega stone throughout the entire season. Drafted megas do not have to mega-evolve during battles, but they must hold their mega stone. Drafted normal form pokemon cannot have their mega stone Coaches must designate a team z-captain. This is the only pokemon that can use z-moves. (That pokemon can use any of the z-moves available to it). A team’s Z captain is not required to carry a Z crystal. The draft will proceed in real-time with the #1 seed picking the first pokemon and continuing in a serpentine fashion. Players are not required to be present for the entire duration of the draft as it will likely take multiple days. Players are encouraged to leave their draft picks with either their sponsors, draft league staff or another trusted player in the event they are not present when it is their turn to select a pokemon. Trades & Free Agency Coaches are able to drop any number of pokemon from their team in a given week. This is done to make room for free agent pokemon. Coaches are able to pick up a single undrafted free agent pokemon per week. If that pokemon is selected for a free spot or ends up in a free spot the recruiting coach must have the points available to recruit it. If that pokemon is selected to be in a specific tier (Eg tier 2) it must be replacing a pokemon from the same tier. Coaches are able to trade pokemon with other coaches given the following conditions: Pokemon being traded are in the same tier. If a trade is proposed it has 24 hours for coaches to vote to veto the trade with majority rules. If the trade does not have enough veto votes cast within 24 hours the trade will be approved according to rule 4.4. The deadline for submitting free agent additions and trades is 12AM midnight local time, the day before the week begins (Sunday) according to the coaches submitted time zone. Trades and free agency picks both come into effect the week after they are made. (Eg: If in week 1 I decide to drop Tyranitar and pick up Garchomp, then Garchomp will be available to me starting week 2). Battles/Recording All Recording must be done on the League’s Spreadsheet using the ‘Week X Summary’ sheets. All battles will be 6v6 Singles done on Ultra Sun or Ultra Moon cartridge. All Matches will be 1 Battle. Battle videos will be saved and shared immediately. Both coaches must record which pokemon they brought, when pokemon faint, including which pokemon and move was used to KO it. KOs are considered “Direct” when a damaging move is used to KO a pokemon. KOS are considered “Passive” when a pokemon dies to status, entry hazard, move like destiny bond, or recoil. “Passive” kills are credited to the Pokemon that used the move that killed. Eg: Charizard uses flare blitz on Ferrothorn which knocks it out however Charizard then is knocked out by recoil. One the summary sheet it would be reported that Charizard got the KO against Ferrothorn, but also that Ferrothorn got a KO against Charizard which would be selecting ‘Flare Blitz (recoil)’. Matches are expected to be scheduled by Friday of any given week. In the event that a match cannot be scheduled by Friday, an extension is required which also must be submitted by Friday. Battles without extensions are expected to occur before the end of the week (Sunday 11:59PM, local time) Coaches have 1 week to complete matches before calling a draw. (A loss may be attributed to a coach if it is evident the match was not completed because of a lack of availability). Playoffs The top 6 teams of the main conference qualify for the playoffs. There is no playoffs for the underdog conference. Top 2 teams get a bye week. 3 seed will face the 6 seed and the 4 seed will face the 5 seed. After the first week of playoffs games the lowest remaining seed will face the 1 seed and the 2 seed will face the other first round winner. The winner of the main conference will receive a special title. The bottom two players of the main conference will be excluded from the main conference next season (provided that player numbers are sufficient). The top two remaining players in the underdog conference will be automatically included in the main conference next season. Sponsors/Assistant Coaches Coaches will have the option to take on Sponsors/Assistant Coaches. This will increase coach reliability, give them people to strategize with and a back-up coach should they be unable to schedule a match. Sponsors are expected to help with breeding of the primary coaches team, and/or to help the primary coach strategize and prepare prior to a match. Assistant Coaches (not sponsors) will be expected to act as substitutes for the primary coach should it not be possible for them to schedule a match. Fans Any person on the PVL server may request to be assigned a role designating themselves as a fan of a team they wish to support. Misc. Rules Will follow the same rules as the PVL Gym Challenge battles. Please read the link here: https://reddit.com/r/PokeVerseLeague/wiki/rules All Pokemon must be attained legitimately. Failure to abide by this rule may result in penalties, suspension, and/or voiding wins. PVL will be collecting battle videos for the purpose of publication on the server’s Youtube channel. Coaches are allowed to and encouraged to use league matches for video streaming and/or Youtube videos. Coaches may also keep track of battles on their own personal sheets or docs as long as the required information is recorded on the League Spreadsheet. Coaches are allowed to view all tabs of the league spreadsheet for scouting purposes. Coaches are only allowed to edit their own matches and only their own side. Failure to abide by this rule may result in penalties, suspension, and/or voiding wins. Coaches may be replaced or eliminated under the following circumstances: Coach does not finish matches on time 2 weeks in a row. Coach does not record matches with KO detail for 2 straight weeks. Coach is found to be using hacked or illegal pokemon. Coach is collaborating with another coach to either make trades to stack one team or is giving scouting info directly to another coach on another coach. Coach is found to have edited the league spreadsheet in a way that they are not allowed to. Coach is found to have lied about matches.